Exposure to Traumatic Events in Childhood Predicts Cortisol Production Among High Risk Pregnant Women

Publication Date

11-26-2018

Document Type

Article

Organizational Units

College of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences, Psychology

Keywords

Cortisol, Pregnancy, Stress, Trauma, Early life

Abstract

Childhood exposure to traumatic events has a profound and disruptive impact on mental and physical health, including stress physiology. In the current study, we evaluate 90 pregnant women at risk for preterm delivery and assess the association between history of exposure to traumatic events and hair cortisol concentrations, an integrated measure of cortisol production. Exposure to more traumatic events in childhood and in adulthood independently predicted elevated hair cortisol concentrations in pregnancy. Notably, the impact of childhood exposure to traumatic events remained after accounting for more proximal traumatic events in adulthood. Further, there was a significant interaction between childhood and adult exposures. Traumatic experiences in adulthood were more strongly associated with hair cortisol concentrations among mothers with a history of greater childhood trauma. Findings suggest that not only do proximal adult exposures impact HPA-axis functioning during pregnancy, but that childhood traumatic experiences have persisting consequences for HPA-axis functioning during pregnancy. Maternal HPA-axis dysregulation in pregnancy has consequences for both maternal health and for fetal development. Therefore, we consider prenatal maternal HPA-axis functioning as a potential biological pathway underlying intergenerational consequences of childhood trauma.

Copyright Date

11-26-2018

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

All Rights Reserved
All Rights Reserved.

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by Elsevier. User is responsible for all copyright compliance. This article was originally published as:

Swales, D. A., Stout-Oswald, S. A., Glynn, L. M., Sandman, C., Wing, D. A., & Davis, E. P. (2018). Exposure to traumatic events in childhood predicts cortisol production among high risk pregnant women. Biological Psychology, 139, 186-192. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsycho.2018.10.006

Accepted Manuscript is openly available through the "Link to Full Text" button.

The published Version of Record is available at libraries through Compass or Worldcat.

Rights Holder

Elsevier

Provenance

Received from CHORUS

Language

English (eng)

Publication Title

Biological Psychology

Volume

139

First Page

186

Last Page

192

ISSN

1873-6246

PubMed ID

30359722

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